Sequim home prices are not easy to understand for buyers from out of state. When you come to look at homes in Sequim, how can you know if Sequim home prices are reasonable. The last thing a retiree wants to do is overpay for their retirement home.
With almost 1,400 articles on this Sequim real estate blog, you’ll find dozens of articles specifically addressing prices, how buyers can determine fair market value, how buyers can be sure they’re not overpaying, and how to negotiate the best possible price. In addition, I give buyers books written about Sequim real estate, which include chapters on Sequim home prices and fair market value. Did I mention that all of this is absolutely free?
Sequim Home Prices and What’s Behind Door 1
Here’s another valuable piece of information for buyers about Sequim home prices. I love cracking open the hidden door of truth for buyers, and I’m doing again here. You’ll see public data on the selling prices of homes as a percentage of their listing price, and that percentage is often quoted in the mid-90s. For example, the first three months of this year the MLS (multiple listing service) shows real estate selling at about 94% of it’s “original listing price.” Oh my. Wait until I show you how flawed that statistic is.
Here is a chart showing Sequim home prices for the first three months of 2013, comparing the MLS data representing the percentage that the selling price is of the “original listing price” and the real original listing price as a percentage of the selling price. I’ll explain the difference.
Statistics on prices must be intelligently used and interpreted. It doesn’t help you much to lump all home and land sales in all price ranges into one average statistic, especially when incorrect data is used. What is more helpful is segregating the market, taking homes that you might buy, and then carefully filtering the data and interpreting it accurately. Here I only used homes that sold from $200,000 to $400,000. That’s likely to be your price range. Then I filtered out a couple of foreclosures that skew the data. And what we have left is 18 homes that sold in the first three months of this year with the blue bar representing the MLS data showing the final sales price as a percentage of the MLS’s “original listing price” compared to the what is actually the true original listing price. The MLS data is not the number you think it is. My green bars are really what you are asking about when you ask, “How much are homes selling for compared to their listing price?”
Sequim Home Prices and MLS Data
Here’s why the MLS data is misleading. What the MLS calls “original listing price” is only the listing price in the most recent active listing. It is not the original listing price if the home was listed by more than one agent or more than once with at least a day between listings. (Referring to the OLS not the NWMLS.) What I did in this chart is go back and pull up all 18 homes to see if they had been listed more than once and many were. This kind of data is not available to the public. I took what is the true original listing price and then measured that against the final selling price. While there isn’t a huge difference overall in the stats, there is a substantial difference among some home sales as you can see in the chart. For example, one home is represented in the MLS as having sold for 91% of its original price, but in fact it was only 76%.
If you want absolute honesty and an understanding of Sequim home prices, this is the place to come. This Sequim real estate blog specializes in accurate data and accurate interpretations with a dab of experience (like 3 decades) and lots of hard work so you can get good information and make wise decisions about your retirement home. I think buyers like you want to understand and know as much as possible about Sequim home prices before you sign on the dotted line.
Last Updated on September 19, 2019 by Chuck Marunde
This makes a lot of sense. I had heard statistics, like homes were selling for 94% of their listing price, but it never occurred to me that the listing price was the last listing price after they had already reduced the price several times.